FREE: Trinidad Scorpion (Yellow) *Rare*

Basic Insecticide:

Nicotine solution: This is gross, I know. But Nicotine is found in many plants (tomatoes, potatoes, others) as a natural insecticide. Find a cigarette store around you or online that sells tobacco by the bag, 1/2 pound or more. cheapest is best. Form a piece of paper in to a funnel and put about 4 cups worth in to an empty gallon jug. Then put about 1/4 cup of alcohol (vodka, rubbing, doesn't matter) and fill the rest with warm tap water. Seal it and leave in a dark place for 14 days, shaking it up once a day. On the fifteenth day unseal it and leave it open for two days (this is to let the alcohol evaporate). Cap it back up and it should store well for 3 or 4 years in a dark, cool area.

Insecticide: In a 20-24oz spray bottle, pour a 1/2 cup of nicotine solution, 2 tablespoons (approx.) of hand or dish soap, and the rest with water. If using tap water leave open for 24 hours to let the chlorine evaporate out. Soap makes it stick, nicotine kills the bugsies, plant stays unharmed! Fruit and veg will rinse clean.

One should keep in mind, when choosing hot peppers, that their Scoville rating is just a potential of how hot it can get, not necessarily does. The pepper produces capsaicin (the hot stuff) as a defense against harm (being eaten). Sometimes you can love them too much! Lots of water, fertilizer, perfect sun/shade, will make the plant comfortable and unproductive. Try stressing your peppers by reducing the water cycle during mid to late fruit stage.

In a perfect world: Fertilize your peppers with a mix that is low in nitrogen, high in potassium, high in phosphorus. The nitrogen isn't so important; the pepper just doesn't absorb it (Beware! High nitrogen will cause "nutrient lock", stopping uptake of nutrients and starving in out). Potassium: Buy a potash additive or burn hardwood to ash in your barbeque, tilling either in to the soil before planting. Phosphorus: Buy Bone Meal or Bat Guano, or till in banana peel if nothing else. As a matter of superstition, I plant a matchstick when the flowers drop!